Designing an online course requires teachers and developers to find a pathway through a complex terrain in which media, curriculum, ideology, context and resources must all be balanced and negotiated. This course will give a practical and theoretical grounding in ways of approaching this task.

We will begin by exploring a range of approaches to course design, looking at online examples and at some of the critical debates surrounding each approach. We will then move on to a small group activity in which each member will have the opportunity to design and run a small-scale learning event, ending with a discussion of assessment issues and a practical task in the design of assessment criteria. Students will also have the option to study approaches to course evaluation, and issues of usability in interface design for learning. For the main course assessment students will have the opportunity to design and part-build their own course.

1) Reflection on the learning event. Weeks 5 and 6 will involve students designing and conducting a small-scale learning event with a small group of fellow learners. At the end of this period, they will write a short piece reflecting on this event, discussing its ethos and rationale, and considering its success or otherwise. (1000 words max) (20%)

2) Course design. The main part of the assessment will involve students designing a course for delivery, or part delivery, online. This will require them to: i) write a course descriptor, ii) write a rationale for the design approach they have taken, iii) build or part-build the course in a learning environment of their choice. (80%)

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Learning Outcomes

On completion of the course students will be able to:

understand and apply a range of approaches to the design of online and offline courses
critically evaluate these approaches via an understanding of their philosophical and theoretical bases
select and design media, learning activities and assessment tasks appropriate to each approach
design and build course components appropriate to their own institutional and educational context.